Many congratulations to Adriane Soehner, PhD (Assistant Professor of Psychiatry), and Mary Woody, PhD (Assistant Professor of Psychiatry), who were recently named Association for Psychological Science (APS) Rising Stars! The APS Rising Star designation is presented to outstanding APS members in the earliest stages of their research careers after completing doctoral training. Dr. Soehner examines the mechanisms...

The Department of Psychiatry is thrilled to congratulate Virginia “Ginnie” Lape, who has received a 2020 UPMC ACES award for her outstanding work in the Pitt Psychiatry Office of Grants and Contracts (OGC). The prestigious ACES award, received by fewer than 1% of UPMC staff annually, honors individuals who regularly go above and beyond. As Administrative Coordinator for the OGC, Ginnie is “the glue that holds our...

Save the date! On Wednesday, June 9, 2021, the Department of Psychiatry will host our annual Research Day. Due to ongoing COVID-related restrictions on in-person gatherings (and, admittedly, collective Zoom fatigue), Research Day 2021 will look different. But we promise that it will be engaging and enjoyable! Stay tuned for further information. Details will be posted to the Events page on our website as planning...

The Department of Psychiatry is delighted to announce results of the 2021 Residency Match for the General Psychiatry, Child, Triple Board, and Family Medicine/Psychiatry tracks. “We are so proud to welcome this group of new doctors into our awesome work family, and want to thank everyone who interviewed candidates or helped in any way during this virtual recruitment season,” said Michael Travis, MD (Senior Director...

More than 20 members of the Department of Psychiatry faculty conduct a wide range of research pertaining to schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and other psychotic disorders. Recent Pitt Psychiatry studies in Neuropsychopharmacology and Psychological Medicine present new findings pertaining to clinical high risk for psychosis and first-episode psychosis. Reduced GABA/glutamate in the thalamus of individuals at...

We are delighted to announce that Gina Perez, MD, has been promoted to Associate Professor of Psychiatry by the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Dr. Perez is Associate Chief, Behavioral Health Network and Telepsychiatry. As associate chief, she oversees the behavioral health services at UPMC’s 40 network hospitals and community affiliates, which comprise approximately 200 acute psychiatric beds. A...

Congratulations to Antoine Douaihy, MD (Professor of Psychiatry and Medicine); Neeta Shenai, MD (Assistant Professor of Psychiatry); Daniel Bender, DO (Assistant Professor of Psychiatry); Morgan Faeder, MD, PhD (Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Neurology); and Kristen Eckstrand, MD, PhD (postdoctoral scholar), who have been honored for excellence in education at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine...

“A common approach to health disparities research is to take a sample of Black women, and a sample of white women, and compare them,” said Alison Hipwell, PhD, of a recent National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute-funded R01 focused on the association between perinatal stress and cardiovascular disease (CVD) in Black women, which she co-leads with Michele Levine, PhD. “But the current crisis in maternal health and...

We are thrilled to announce that Rebecca Price, PhD (Associate Professor of Psychiatry), has received a 2021 Chancellor’s Distinguished Research Award. The award is in the Junior Scholar category, which honors Dr. Price’s great potential by virtue of her high-quality, early-career research contributions, as well as recognition of her national and international prominence as a scholar. Dr. Price’s research focuses...

Psychiatry residents at UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital have the opportunity to serve their communities through elective outpatient clinic rotations in the Pittsburgh area. The Birmingham Free Care Clinic provides primary and acute medical care and other services for patients without health insurance. We spoke with Camille Tastenhoye, MD (PGY3), Daniel Salahuddin, MD, MPH (PGY4), and Jamie Farquhar, MD (PGY3)...